From a solar-powered Stirling engine design, an automatic vision tracking device and a yield-probability calculator for crops to studies surrounding soil water evaporation, enzyme-mediated fuel cells, penny-shine solutions, silly-putty ratios, the effects of music genres on parakeets, a paper airplane race and a pig intelligence measurement, the 58th annual Morgan-Washington Bi-County Science Fair gathered a variety of scientifically tested hypotheses from the minds of area youth in nine different schools to Brush High School recently.

An estimated 91 projects lined the auxiliary gym at BHS, exhibiting inquiries put forth from sixth to12th grade students in schools from Arickaree, Brush, Fort Morgan High School, Baker Central, Lone Star, Otis, Weldon Valley, Woodlin and Wiggins, where this year's crop of participants not only investigated a variety of ideas but displayed a passion for their projects that was contagious.

Timothy Lyne of Brush earned a wealth of honors at the Morgan-Washington Bi-County Science Fair held in Brush. His friction-reducing ferromagnetic fluid project earned him top honors as a 2013 International science fair contestant, Colorado state science fair contestant and an award for senior division engineering.
(Katie Collins/Brush News-Tribune)

For instance, when Otis senior Lexi Thompson first began her four-month-long project she might not have guessed where her data would take her.

Her project, a yield-probability calculator computer program which she designed herself to aid farmers in predicting crop yields during various planting seasons, gathered 25 years worth of weather data and was inspired by her work at the US Department of Agriculture experiment station in Akron.

It was here that scientist D.C. Nielsen brought Thompson his research paper on a similar idea, which she then took to a whole new level with the help of Nielsen as mentor. Her passion did not end with the project's finish, however, and according to Thompson, she not only sees real-life application for farmers, but would also like to develop an app from the program.

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"I think in the future this will go far," said Thompson. "I'm from a farming community myself, which sparked my interest in making the data interactive."

Brush senior Brett Bostrom created a project that had many stop by his station for a test and earned him a trip to the state science fair. The project had Bostrom create an automated vision tracking system that caused a secondary object, a light, to follow a person's vision.

Brush senior Brett Bostrom got a wealth of interest with his automated vision tracking instrument created for the Bi-County science fair held in Brush, where he took home a wealth of honors including as a senior state science fair participant and a gold award for senior division mathematics.
(Katie Collins/Brush News-Tribune)

The design included what Bostrom referred to as simple parts, and the idea first struck him when the headlights on his pickup malfunctioned.

The top two exhibitors honored with the chance to move on to the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix in May included two Brush contestants, Timothy Lyne and Jacob Nichols. Nichols also earned the honor in 2012.

Lyne's project, a friction-reducing ferromagnetic fluid, ignited as an idea after a trip to CU's engineering fair where the method was introduced and students were urged to find applications.

Both Lyne's project and Nichols', which explored a two-dimensional investigation of hydraulic fracturing principles, also earned both contestants top nods as two of 10 senior-division participants who will move on to the Colorado State Science and Engineering Fair, to be held April 11-13 in the Lory Student Center.

Other senior division contestants moving on to the state science fair include Abigail Krause of Lone Star, and Brett Bostrom, Cameron Crandall, Jordan Deslauriers and Eric Lyne, all of Brush. A Brush team project moving on to state was made by Tim Brown, Clarisa Luquin and Tyler Stratman.

Also moving on to state are Lexi Thompson and Madison Thompson of Otis. Madison's project on the effects of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination on the hatching of artemia salina delved into the effect of oil spills on brine shrimp and has this freshman hoping to continue her investigation to find a solution in the future.

Thompson's passion and dedication for her project was profound, and earned her the title of lone I-SWEEP finalist, which will take her and her project to the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering and Environment Project Olympiad set in Houston, Texas in May.

While senior state alternate positions went to Colter Huse of Lone Star and Amanda Sears of Wiggins, junior contestants were also awarded the honor of moving on to the state stage and included Danae Beauprez, Chloe Bleak, Zac Lefforge and Lindey Wagner of Otis, Joel Wagner and Michael McCaffrey of Arickaree and a team project developed by Kaybree Keating, Aubrey Wells and Kaitlin Wells of Fort Morgan. Junior alternate positions went to Hailee Roth of Baker Central and Coley Smith of Otis.

2013 Broadcom Masters nominees who will have the chance to participate for even more awards during this national science, technology, engineering, and math competition for U.S. sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, included Danae Beauprez and Chloe Bleak of Otis, Joel Wagner of Arickaree, Nathaniel Miner of Brush and Sadie Jones of Woodlin.

Although science fair founder Elmer Bernath could not be in attendance this year, special awards were handed out by hostess Darline Miner, who noted that the event would not be possible without the help of many volunteers, judges and a wealth of sponsors from all over northeastern Colorado who annually contribute trophies, ribbons, gift certificates, cash, apparel and even scientific calculators in an effort to encourage student achievement.

This year, a total of 66 sponsors contributed awards from local businesses, organizations and individuals in both Morgan and Washington counties.

Many international awards were also received by contestants from such entities as the American Meteorological Society, Association for Women Geoscientists, American Psychological Association, Intel, Yale Science and Engineering Association, the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, U.S. Metric Association and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to name just a few.

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